LAS VEGAS — Ron Dermer, Israel’s former strategic affairs minister and close advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, praised Vice President JD Vance on Monday ahead of Vance’s closed-door appearance at the Republican Jewish Committee’s national convention on Monday evening.

Dermer, speaking at the RJC conference, praised the group for inviting Vance, and urged RJC members to give him a “warm welcome” — something that at least some in the crowd may not have been inclined to do.

Dermer said that Vance had played a “critical role” in the 12-day War against Iran in June 2025, “and particularly the first day, where that element of surprise was so critical to our success. And I will be forever grateful for the role that he played at that critical moment,” he said.

The former Israeli official praised Vance as “one of the smartest people that I had met in the Senate.” He said that he first became acquainted with Vance when he was running for Senate, and that they had a lengthy discussion in Jerusalem about the U.S.-Israel relationship and how it serves U.S. interests.

“I had no problem with somebody saying, ‘Why is it in our interest?’” Dermer said. “I had no problem making that [case]. And throughout his tenure, when I worked with him as vice president, he was always focused on that.”

Dermer described the Israeli and American governments as largely aligned on key issues, including Iran, Lebanon and Gaza, a situation he praised, even as he acknowledged some differences on issues including Turkey, Qatar and Syria.

He also urged the United States to respond with military strikes to any Iranian efforts to target U.S. assets, Gulf states or Israel. And he said that, whether privately or publicly, the U.S. should seek to ensure that the Iranian regime falls before President Donald Trump leaves office.

Dermer urged supporters of Israel to give the Trump administration “some space to continue to exhaust all the possibilities of demilitarizing Gaza, disarming Hamas, without having to force the IDF in to finish the job.”

But he said that Israel would carry out those goals militarily if diplomacy is not successful and that Hamas will not be allowed to remain in Gaza.